


An Unbreakable Bond

by Jaxon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Cokeworth, Gen, HP AU, Hogwarts, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 17:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10791183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaxon/pseuds/Jaxon
Summary: He wasn't an only child...and he didn't just have a sibling.  Severus Snape had a twin.





	An Unbreakable Bond

**Author's Note:**

> From a Tumblr prompt: Can you write a headcanon where Severus is a kid, but has a twin sister? (They're both magical) And can it take place where they both first meet Lily? You can write whatever happens between the three from there - I just always had this mini headcanon in my head and thought you'd be the perfect person to write it. I hope that's okay. Thanks!

“Sev!  Sev, Sev, Sev, Sev, Sev!”

“Oi!”  Tobias lowered his newspaper as his son dashed through the living room and out through the back door.  “Stop running, boy!”

Moments later, his twin followed in his wake, a huge grin across her face.  “Sev!  Sev!  Sev!  SEV!”

“Stop yelling, Lori!”

“I’m after Sev!”

Tobias’ hand snatched out and gripped the small child’s upper arm. Lori drew to a halt, and squirmed in front of her father.  “Stop,” he hissed, “yelling.”

“Sorry,” she murmured, wriggling out of her father’s grip.  She solemnly walked through the house, out of the kitchen door and slowly moved down the path.  She slid her hand over the red finger marks at the top of her opposite arm, and gently rubbed the pain away.  When she reached the back gate, she launched into a run down the back alley. “SEV!  SEV!  SEV!”

“Your children are feral,” Tobias complained, angrily slatting the newspaper onto the kitchen table.  

* * *

The two children sat opposite each other in complete silence.

At first, Tobias relished the peace and quiet, but after half an hour, he became suspicious.  Barely moving his newspaper, he glanced around at his two small children.  Sure enough, Severus was smirking.  He looked over at Lori, who pursed her lips and then grinned. Back to Severus, who now looked miserable, and then thoughtful, and then ecstatic.  Back to Lori, who had placed a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Tobias put the newspaper down and headed for the kitchen.

“What are they doing?”

“Hmm?”

“Your freaky kids.  What are they doing?”

Eileen was pale and drawn, and she wrung her hands on her apron.  “I thought they’d been ever so quiet and well behaved.”

“Quiet,” Tobias murmured, his voice low, “yes.  Well behaved?  I’m not so sure.”

Eileen silently moved towards the living room and glanced through the doorway.  “They’re sitting ever so still.”  She turned back to her husband.  “Boys and girls should be seen and not heard,” she recited.

“It’s unnatural,” he said, standing so close to her, the hairs on her forearms raised.  “It’s unnatural that they’re sitting there in silence.  Doing.  Nothing. They’re not reading.  They’re not playing.  They’re just…silent.”

“I told them,” Eileen said, hastily.  “After all that yelling the other day, I told them to sit down and behave themselves.”

Tobias firmly gripped his wife and spun her around so she could see the children.  He moved close to her ear, his body pressed up against her back.  “They’re talking to each other.”

Eileen didn’t dare speak.

“They’re talking to each other, aren’t they?” he said again, shaking her slightly.  “Those freaky kids are talking to each other through their bloody minds.”

“I don’t know wha-”

Tobias moved away roughly.  “I’m going the pub.”  He stood at the door, pulling his boots on, ignoring the laces. “Just…”  He sighed loudly.  “Just make sure they don’t do that weird stuff in public, all right?”

* * *

“It’s your fault.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“It’s not!”

“It is!  You went yelling through the house!”

“You went running through the house!”

Severus stooped and snatched a handful of long grass from the riverbank, and threw it at his sister.  

“That’s it!” Lori squealed, and grabbed her own handful, chasing him down the bank.  He was quick, but his sister was nimble.  Where Severus stumbled, Lori kept her feet and she’d soon caught him up.  Her little hand reached out and grabbed the neck of his shirt, and she stuffed the grass triumphantly down his back.

“Argh!” he yelled, pulling his shirt off, and shaking the grass out. “You’re for it now!”  

Lori’s laughter rang out loudly, and she charged off ahead, her brother following in her footsteps.

When he finally caught up, his sister was deep in the bushes at the playground.  “Lori?” he called breathlessly.  His lungs felt red hot from all of the running.

“Here,” she hissed, waving her hand.  “Look!”

Severus crept forward and placed his hand into his sister’s, leaning his dirty haired head against her own.  “What?”

“Look!”

He glanced up and he saw her – a cheerful looking girl with flowing auburn hair, swinging recklessly high on the playground apparatus.

“What about her?”

“Look!” Lori hissed again, and Severus watched in awe as the girl flew through the air, hanging too long in the atmosphere to have been an ordinary dismount from the swing.

“You’re a freak!  I’m going to tell Mum!” another girl shouted, and ran off across the park, leaving the auburn haired girl looking shocked, and rather hurt.

The sadness on her face was too much and Severus couldn’t contain himself.  “You’re not a freak!”  He pulled Lori with him out of the bushes, and when the girl gave them both an appraising look, he soon regretted his haste.

“Who are you?” she said, cautiously.

Lori pulled herself up to her full height, and gripped Severus’ hand. “We’re the same as you.”

“I don’t think you are,” the other girl said, nervously.

“You might have posh clothes,” Lori said, her voice tinged with sadness, “but you’re one of us.”

“You’re a witch,” Severus explained.

“And so am I,” Lori agreed.  “And our mum.  And Sev here is a wizard.”

The girl scoffed.  “A wizard? Prove it.”

Severus looked at Lori, and she nodded.  He ran across to the other side of the apparatus.

“Whisper in my ear,” Lori said to the girl.  “Anything you like, and I’ll tell Sev, and he’ll shout it back.”

“That doesn’t sound very impressive.”

“I’ll tell him through our minds.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.  Tell me something Severus can’t have ever known.”

“My name is Lily, and I was born on the 30th of January,” Lily whispered, as softly as she could.

Lori grinned, and looked over at her brother.

“MY NAME IS LILY AND I WAS BORN ON THE 30TH OF JANUARY!” Severus hollered triumphantly.

He ran back, his cheeks flushing from the exertion.  “Well?” he demanded.

“And I’m the same as you?” Lily said, excitedly.

Lori nodded happily.  “Just the same as us!”

* * *

“Where’ve you been?” Lily said, placing her hands on her hips as she saw Severus kicking his way across the field, his gaze focused on his feet. “I’ve been coming down here all week. Why didn’t you tell me you were going away?”  

“Didn’t go away,” he mumbled.

She frowned.  “Where’s Lori?”

Her question was met with silence.

“Severus?”

He finally looked up, and Lily was shocked to see tear marks on his mucky cheeks.  “Sev, where’s Lori?”

“She got real sick,” he said, his voice small.  “They’ve taken her to hospital.”

“Can we visit?”

He shrugged.  “They said I can’t.  Might catch it.”

“What is it?”

“Rubella.”

Lily laughed in relief.  “Oh, Sev, she’ll be fine!  You get vaccinated against Rubella, and you don’t get that sick.”

“Wizards don’t have vaccines.  Not for Muggle stuff.”  His black eyes were darker than ever.  “Not meant to catch Muggle stuff.”

“But she’ll be all right, won’t she?  Witches and wizards are stronger than Muggles, right?”

Severus shrugged.  “Mum says that sometimes it shows up funny.”  He sighed.  “I expect you’re right.”  He gave Lily a small smile.  “I’m glad you’re our friend.  I’ll tell Lori you wanted to visit.”  

“Are you going to tell her silently?”

He laughed.  “Not from here.  But I could probably go to the hospital and look through the window.”  He grinned.  “Nobody will know.  And we can talk through windows.”

* * *

“Look,” Tobias said, sitting across from his son.  “You’ve got to speak.  Out loud.  Not just in your head no more.”

Severus stared back, his face betraying no emotion.

Exasperated, Tobias ran his hands through his hair, and looked back towards Eileen.  “A bit of help, love?”  He turned back to his son and grasped his hands.  “You’ve got to be normal, right?  You’re going this posh school next week, and you can’t be silent when you’re there.”

Severus didn’t say a word.

“Leave him,” she said, softly placing a hand on Tobias’ shoulder. “If he doesn’t feel up to it, there’s no point pushing it.  I’ll write to the school.  They’ll understand.”

* * *

And the school understood.  Some teachers understood more than others – Slughorn and McGonagall and Pomfrey.  Some teachers, like Binns, didn’t even notice.  But the kids were more wary of the strangely silent boy, who barely spoke, apart from to greet Lily Evans in the hall.

* * *

He was a curious choice for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, but Dumbledore was scraping the barrel for staff. He remembered the oddly quiet Slytherin boy with curious intensity, and sent an owl to where he lived with his mother and his father amongst the Muggles.

He only stayed a year, of course, but the lad spoke a little more than when he was a student – not much, but a little.  His studying was exemplary, and he knew far more about dark objects, artefacts and folklore than Dumbledore felt comfortable with.

And then, a fortnight before the end of term, he announced that he had to go on a sudden trip – but his marking was done, and he’d be back before Monday.

* * *

The curse exploded up his arm, and Severus groaned in agony.  He cast furiously, trying to stem the flow, sweat beading on his forehead, but his wand work was feeble, and no match for the dark magic.

He knew that if he made it back to the school, Dumbledore might’ve been able to help him, but he realised that he didn’t care.  All that mattered was making the stone work, and so, he flipped it over and over in his palm until he found what he was looking for.

“Sev!  Sev, Sev, Sev, Sev, Sev!”

Severus grinned broadly.  “Hi Lori.”

And he closed his eyes.


End file.
